


Expectations vs Reality

by Gaia_bing



Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Bucky Centennial Birthday, Drama, Established Relationship, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Reunited and It Feels So Good, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-10-05 00:29:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10293341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gaia_bing/pseuds/Gaia_bing
Summary: In Steve's perfect world, this is how Bucky's 100th birthday should have gone.In reality, it was even more perfect.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I know I'm late in posting something for Bucky's 100th birthday since it was like...four days ago...*hangs head in shame*...
> 
> But this gave me the inspiration to write this little number here. It's now when or how you spend an event that matters...
> 
> It's the happiness you get from it that counts. :)
> 
> Enjoy! :)

In Steve's absolutely perfect world, this is how Bucky's 100th birthday **should** have gone:

First of all, they'd found the cure of Bucky's mind control even before the latter had even **thought** of putting himself back into cryo-sleep. Therefore, Steve wouldn't have never known the pain of once again losing the one person he'd loved and sacrificed the most for, just when they'd found their way into each other's arms after being separated for so long. It would have given Bucky the chance to live freely, without the fear of doing anything against his will, and enjoy the life that he deserved to have along with the man that he loved.

With no pain and no restraints standing in their way, he and Bucky would have been inseparable over the past year, creating brand new memories after brand new memories, on top of all of the old ones that already existed, but had just began to be remembered. And with what Steve had planned, his boyfriend's memories of his centennial birthday would top them all off...

Second of all, the two of them (especially Bucky) would had been forgiven for their past crimes. They, along with the rest of the Avengers team that had rebelled, would been welcomed back with open arms, with the freedom to do what they wanted and go wherever they pleased. And so, the pair would have settled in a cozy apartment back in their old neighborhood of Brooklyn. Not as small as the one they had back then, since money wasn't really an issue these days, but not too big so that either of them became lost in all of the space that they didn't know how to use.

This was where they'd spend the morning of Bucky's hundredth birthday, in bed sharing some late morning breakfast (after some early morning sex, of course) and they'd finally get up just before noon and spend a little too much time in the shower together.

Thirdly, amongst those who'd forgiven them, would be one Tony Stark. He and Bucky would have struck an easy, but sassy friendship, just like he and Steve had just a couple of years back.

And, for his "centennial-but-still-looking-no-wrinkles" present, Tony would have presented Bucky with the project he'd been working on for the past few months: a brand new vibranium arm. Bucky would have looked at the brand new appendix in complete wonder and say that this was the _"bestest gift ever"_ and Steve and Tony would exchange a knowing look, both aware of the former man's own quality-challenging present and Steve's pride in what he had planned for him and Bucky that very evening.

  
They would have spend the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing except being together, walking hand-in-hand while talking about the forgotten past, the fleeting present and maybe, just maybe, the unknown future.

For the evening, Steve would have taken Bucky to the finest restaurant in all of New York. They would have wined (on expensive champagne) and dined (on a 6-star meal and the most beautiful cake Bucky had ever seen) and danced (Steve would have taken lessons for months beforehand) for hours on hand.

And then, late into the night, just before the tenth became the eleventh. Steve would finally reveal his _piece-de-resistance_ for his guy's special day.

He'd take Bucky to the highest point that Brooklyn had to offer, which he'd decorated with thousands of flowers and candles.

The long-haired man would look at him with shock, but also curiosity.

Steve, wearing his finest suit, would look at him with a watery smile and say the words he'd been wanted to say ever since they'd reunited a year before in that tiny apartment in Romania, hell even before that.

He didn't really exactly know what he'd say, but he knew that it'd be epic, poetic, romantic and all the "ic" words the dictionary had ever invented.

He knew it'd work because Bucky's lips would curve into the smile that he'd always reserved to Steve and only Steve. He'd then reply with the most beautiful words Steve had ever heard in his life. It would make him tear up and he just knew he'd made the right decision.

And so, Steve would sink to the floor on one knee, take out the ring he'd been keeping to himself for the better part of a century and with a trembling voice, he'd asked the question he'd been dying to ask the minute the two of them had shared their first kiss almost a century beforehand:

_"James Buchanan Barnes, will you make me the honor of becoming my husband?"_

And Bucky, with a trembling voice, would answer back:

_"Oh yes, yes I will!"_

And the two of them would reach for one another, their arms encircling the other's bodies, and they would be spinning and spinning and spinning, laughing like crazy kids, until they were both too dizzy to stand and they would fall down on the floor, in the middle of the candles and flowers, Bucky's beautiful (and damn expensive) silver-and-diamond ring shining on his brand new left hand, with the help from the starlight above the pair...

And _of course_ , they would kiss and _of course_ , they'd make love until the sun came up.

Finally, fourth and most importantly of all, Steve would have spent the entire day of Bucky's one hundredth birthday **with** Bucky, making the former assassin just as wanted and just as loved as Steve felt whenever the two of them were together and just how the other man deserved to be.

That would have been how Bucky's 100th birthday transpired if everything had been perfect and fate had given these two men out of time a fair hand to deal with...

But, as it is with a lot of things, reality is far from perfect and the hand that had been given to the both of them had extremely been far from fair.

First of all, they still hadn't found a cure to Bucky's mind control. Therefore, for the better part of the past year, Bucky was alone, imprisoned in his sleep, while Steve was alone, imprisoned in his pain. And all the while, no new memories between the two of them were being made.

Second of all, nobody had forgiven the two of them (especially Bucky) for their past crimes. And that also included the rest of the Avengers' team that had rebelled, all of them scattered around the globe in hiding. No one could go anywhere and do as they pleased. And amongst the ones that Wakanda had accepted in asylum (besides he and Bucky) was one Sam Wilson, his modern-times best friend.

Third of all, that nobody included Tony. There was no new brand-new vibranium arm waiting for Bucky when he got out of his cryo-chamber. Maybe one day he'd get one from another source, but for now, still nothing.

And fourthly and most important of all...

Steve **wasn't** there for Bucky's 100th birthday.

And he was **pissed** at himself.

 _"What do you mean they found something? And they wanna do it tonight?"_ He'd almost yelled at Sam over the protected Wakanda phone line.

_("Take this mission!" They'd said...)_

_("It'll do you some good, instead of always moping around your icicle of a boyfriend!" They'd said...)_

"But next week is Bucky's birthday! I 'gotta be there!" Steve had insisted with a slight pout.

_("It'll take three to four days tops! You'll be back here on time, don't you worry! And even if you're not there, your guy's sleeping, he won't even noticed that it's his birthday!" **They'd** said...)_

It was now one week later, the dawn of Bucky's 100th birthday, and as much as that little fact had pissed Steve off...

_"I'll watch over Bucko. I mean, it's not like they're going to find a cure for him the moment that you're gone or something..." **Sam** had said while chuckling._

This right here took the entire cake and **then** some.

 _"I don't know, man! They said something about Bucky's brain and the country of Wakanda being on the same wavelength or something. They're bringing an old shaman to do some sort of ceremony to take out the triggers out of his brain and back into the earth, or some whacky mambo-jumbo like that."_ Sam, the same Sam who had encouraged him to take on this stupid, _stupid_ mission that had taken him **way** too long to complete and was keeping him away from his now centennial-and-maybe-even-awakening-that-very-same-night-boyfriend, had responded.

 _"But tonight, why tonight? Why not any other night, when I'm actually there?!"_   Steve asked, with a bit of petulance in his voice.

 _"I don't know, they said that if they don't do it by tonight, they don't know **when** they'll be able to do it again. They said that these wavelength come by every quarter of a century. And who knows when an opportunity to cure Bucky will come by if we let this one go by.._. " Sam, Bucky's substitute guardian at the moment, replied.

Let this one go by?

 _"No freakin' way."_ Steve thought to himself.

 _"'Think you'll be able to get here by the end of tonight?"_ Sam finally asked after a tense moment of silence.

Steve's lips curved upwards.

"I'll run to get there if I have to."

**********************

In the end, he did ended up back in the Wakanda compound before the end of Bucky's birthday...

Five minutes left to be exact.

He'd run alright, but just from where he'd landed (or jumped, if he was being honest here). His chest was heaving and his mouth was gulping for air when he finally made his entrance inside the Wakandian compound that had been his home for the past year or so. And it didn't take long to realize that he was now face-to-face with the one that apparently had changed everything, with the help of some old Wakandian magic and the heart of the earth. The shaman, an old woman with an air of mystique and and ancient smile upon her weary-looking face.

"Buc-Bucky? Whe-where is he?" Steve finally let out, struggling to get some air out.

"He's in the recovery room, recuperating. You can go see him."

Steve's lungs finally calmed down.

His next stuttering came out of nervousness, not exhaustion.

"Is...is he...?" he finally asked.

"The cure worked, the words are gone from his head. He will be alright, do not worry." the shaman replied, with a reassuring smile.

Steve finally felt like he could breathe properly again, after so long...

 _Bucky_...

Bucky was _awake_...

Bucky would be _alright_...

Steve could _see_ him again...

And slowly, he turned his body away from the shaman and just as slowly, he made his way to the room, where Bucky was waiting for him.

There he was, in his black official Wakandian fatigues. They looked as opposite as an expensive suit as they could get.

And when he finally opened the door...

Here was _Bucky_ , laying on a small hospital bunker, in the same clothes he'd been previously peacefully sleeping in, looking at him with clear eyes and a small smile upon his face, for the first time in over a year.

"Buck?" Steve asked in a hushed tone, almost unable to believe that the other man was awake and well after being sleeping for so long.

And for the first time in over a year, he heard Bucky speak in the same kind of whispered tone:

"Steve..."

The blond-haired laid his body on top of the small bunker when the dark-haired scooted over and patted its mattress.

They looked at each for a long, blissful moment...

"Hi." was all he could think to say, unable to believe that he could talk to his beloved after so long.

"Hi." was what Bucky whispered right back at him, also looking at him in almost shock, but also curiosity.

Bucky closed his eyes and leaned in to the warm hand against his skin as Steve reached out and tucked a brand of loose hair behind his ear.

"Happy Birthday. I'm sorry I missed it." Steve finally said. There was no 6-stars dinner at a fancy restaurant.

But Steve didn't care.

Bucky smiled while his eyes were still closed.

"Thank you. And it's alright, really." he replied back. There was no beautiful cake and no expensive champagne and rehearsed dancing either.

And neither did Bucky.

Because all that mattered really...

Was this particular moment between the two of them.

Steve thought of all of the things he'd ever wanted to say, of all of the speeches that could have been rehearsed for this particular moment, but when he saw Bucky's stormy blue eyes open up and stare at him once more, all he could come up with was...

Well...

The one thing that came purely out of his heart:

"I love you, Bucky."

And it was all the "ic" words that the dictionary could contain.

The long-haired man looked at him, his lips curving into the smile that had always been reserved to him and only him. And in response, he simply replied back:

"I love you too, Steve."

That made the blond-haired man tear up and he just knew he'd made the right decision...

The decision he'd made almost the moment after the two of them had met over such a long time ago.

Out of Steve's fatigues' pants came a long metal wire, one that he'd often used to lock-pick doors and safes during the week-long mission he'd just finished, among other things. Only this time, instead of curving it half-way, he finished the circular motion, twisting the two tips of the wire together, so that the now-metal ring would be solid and sound. He held the makeshift ring in his trembling fingers and all the words that came out were:

_"Marry me."_

And all that Bucky answered was:

_"Yeah."_

They reached for one another, their arms circling the other's bodies.

They rolled over and over and over on the small bunker, laughing like crazy kids, until they were too dizzy to do anything else.

They fell down upon the recovery room's floor, in the middle of all of the hospital blankets and medical supplies.

And of _course_ they kissed and _of course_ they made love right there until the sun came up, Bucky's simple metal ring shining on his good old right hand, with the help of the neon-lights above the pair.

It might not have been how things should have gone,

But for Steve,

Bucky **was** the world.

And that was enough for things to be absolutely _perfect_.


End file.
